Five months after police booked a Marigny homeowner with attempted second-degree murder after he shot a teenage boy he said was breaking into his house in the middle of the night, the case remains in limbo. The family of the teen, meanwhile, says his recovery has been slow and they continue to press for charges to be brought against the homeowner, Merritt Landry.

"The law is the law, and I understand that, but he's just a kid," said Sarah Jane Coulter, the mother of 14-year-old Marshall Coulter. "I just want things to be fair."

The Orleans Parish grand jury met for the last time in 2013 this week, but it does not appear to have considered the Marigny shooting. And while charges for attempted second-degree murder can be brought directly by the district attorney without securing a grand jury indictment, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office has so far taken a deliberate approach.

"There's really no reason for them to rush into it," said Dane Ciolino, a Loyola University law professor.

If someone is booked with a felony and out of jail on bond - as is Landry's case - Louisiana law gives the district attorney 150 days to bring charges. However, that deadline just sets a limit after which the person is no longer under bond.

"It means a lot when you're in jail," Ciolino said. "But it basically just releases him from his bond obligation."

The district attorney has up to six years to bring charges in cases that are considered serious felonies. In this instance that would be 2019.

A spokesman for Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said the office wants to make sure its investigation is thorough.

"We have to make sure that we've looked at all the evidence that's available," spokesman Christopher Bowman said. "It's more important for us to make the correct decision than a quick decision."

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The July 26 shooting, which came on the heels of the not guilty verdict in the divisive George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case in Florida, touched off a firestorm of controversy in New Orleans. Opponents accused Landry of overreacting with deadly force; supporters said he had the right to defend himself and his family.

A building inspector for the Historic District Landmarks Commission, Landry, 33, told police he was home with his pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter when he thought he heard the window shutters on his single-story shotgun rustle shortly before 2 a.m., a source close to Landry said. Landry told police that he confronted the teen in the driveway just a few feet from the house's backdoor.

Some people close to Landry said that he told them that he then yelled out, "Freeze! Get down!"

Police reports simply state that Landry told police that he saw the teen make a "move, as if to reach for something."

Police records state that Landry then shot Coulter from 30 feet away. The bullet struck Coulter in the head. The teen was rushed to the hospital where he was listed as being in an induced coma for many weeks later.

Landry told friends that he believed the teen was trying to break into his house, according to the arrest warrant.

Detectives, however, said that their investigation showed that Coulter, who was not armed, did not pose an "imminent threat" to Landry and booked him with attempted second-degree murder.

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In the aftermath of the shooting, activists flocked to the streets near Landry's home, demanding his indictment. On the other side, a Facebook group page titled "Free Merritt Landry" sprung up, and many vocal groups formed across the city proclaiming the homeowner's innocence and that he acted in self-defense.

Legal experts have said that in court the case will boil down to whether Landry felt that his life was in "imminent danger," even though the 14-year-old had come past a locked gate and was on private property when he was shot.

Assuming Coulter survives and the charge remains attempted second-degree murder, Louisiana's expansive "Castle" or "stand your ground" laws protect people's right to use force to defend themselves inside a residence, a car or a business, but say that the force used has to be considered reasonable and necessary.

Coulter's background has been topic of widespread discussion. Neighbors who live near Landry's home in the 700 block of Mandeville Street expressed frustration that the neighborhood had been plagued by a rash of armed robberies and burglaries just before the shooting.

Coulter's family has acknowledged the teen's history of burglary arrests. Family members at the time of the shooting said Coulter was awaiting trial but would not say what the charges were. Coulter's brother even went so far as to call his little brother a "professional thief," but said that he would never pick up a gun.

New Orleans Police have declined to comment on Coulter's juvenile arrest record.

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Coulter, who had just completed 7th grade at the ReNEW Cultural Arts Academy, was in the process of switching to a different school at the request of his mother, said Dwight Rhodes, a family friend of Coulter's and the chief advocacy officer at the ReNEW Schools Charter Management Organization.

Coulter, one of eight children, grew up in the 7th Ward, less than a five-minute drive from Landry's Marigny home.

His father died of cancer when he was young and his older brother David helped raise Marshall and his other siblings.

At school, Coulter had difficulties. Having been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder at a young age, he had trouble concentrating, family members said.

But Rhodes said Coulter was working hard to improve, and had shown significant progress over the past year.

"I knew that Marshall was moving in the right direction; things were getting a little better for him," Rhodes said.

But, he said, "like so many other young black men in this city he struggled."

"He was definitely a kid who could engage with other kids. For the most part he was a liked young man," Rhodes recalled.

However, Coulter had difficulties with some of the other children at his school, Rhodes said, and his mother had decided to move him to a new school next year.

"Marshall just did some things that he wanted to do," Rhodes said, admitting that Coulter was known to sometimes hang out late at night in the neighborhood with his friends.

"The reality is, he didn't always stay at home when he should have. We just thought that he could've chosen some better kids for friends," Rhodes said.

"He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

"No child deserves to be shot down like that in the streets of New Orleans."

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Marshall Coulter's health is slowly improving, but his condition is still a far cry from what anyone might consider normal. He cannot get out of bed or walk, without the help of another person. He has to eat and drink everything from a straw. And, while he is slowly starting to communicate again, family members said he is still slow to form sentences.

"His speech is improving, but it's still just above a whisper and a mumble," Rhodes said.

A little over a week ago, Coulter underwent the latest in many surgeries following the shooting. During his last operation, doctors removed a piece of his skull because there was mounting pressure against his brain, his mother said.

"We're just all trying to get through this," said Sarah Jane Coulter. "It's been really hard but he's getting better; we're hoping for the best," she said.

Meanwhile, Landry's lawyer and friends have remained tight-lipped since the shooting. But friends did say Landry and his family have moved from the Mandeville Street address to a new location.

Landry was suspended from his job without pay the on the day of the shooting but returned to work Nov. 23, according to City Attorney Sharonda Willams.

The maximum suspension period according to Civil Service Commission rules is 120 days.

Upon returning to work, Williams said, Landry was "reassigned to desk duty pending the criminal investigation."